Week 13 Rundown

Rivalry week ended up being a cornucopia of points.  Lots of times rivals will hold down the points against each other, but that was nowhere near the case this weekend.  You can't lead off talking about the week without the 7 OT game between LSU and Texas A&M.  LSU almost had that game won by a fraction of a second at the end of the 4th quarter.  And then it ended up going on forever.  A&M ultimately won 74-72 in what will surely be remembered for many years.  72 points is usually a month's worth of points for LSU's offense.  And we mention it every year - the Zombie Buckeyes.  You can never get rid of them.  They are always in the Playoff conversation.  Maryland had a wide open two point conversion that went off the fingertips that could have been the 2 loss headshot for the Zombies.  But they survived and they hung 62 points on the best defense in the country this year.  So since Michigan is completely incapable of ever beating Ohio State, the Zombie Buckeyes are back in the Playoff conversation.  A year like this where there are really only 2 elite teams and then a mosh pit of other teams, UCF is still undefeated and should be given a chance at the Playoff.  But they won't.  Even if they beat Memphis in their conference championship, their strength of schedule will be held against them and their backup quarterback will be held against them.  Going back to the Zombie Buckeyes, their third string quarterback didn't prevent them from being picked for the Playoff a few years ago.  It helps to have that name brand even though something like that shouldn't matter.

So lots of points scored this week.  West Virginia scored 56.  Unfortunately for them they gave up 59 to Oklahoma.  Georgia scored 45, Florida scored 41, Alabama scored 52, Clemson scored 56, Kentucky scored 56.  Heck even the Kansas State-Iowa State game featured a combined 80 points.  Utah scored 28 unanswered points to come back and beat BYU.  A couple of high scoring teams were held down by their rivals.  Washington State only scored 15 against Washington.  That officially slams the door on the PAC 12 for making the Playoff.  Utah State only scored 24.  Notre Dame only scored 24 but they were able to beat USC.  And in the truly biggest upset of the weekend, USC said they are retaining Clay Helton.  Maybe not such an upset if you see his buyout.

So the last full weekend of the regular season ended up being quite interesting.  The Playoff rankings that come out this week will be the most anticipated of the year so far.  Lots of curiosity how everyone will be shuffled.  Next week is conference championship week.  There also are quite a few weird, random games being played.  There were quite a few cancellations this year due to various types of weather, so there are a bunch of makeup games being played.  Some teams though aren't playing the team they were originally scheduled to play.  Oh well.  We love the weirdness of college football.